Toy top



Patented Dec. 21', 1943 TOY TOP Raymond J. Lohr, Erie, Pa.,

assignor to Louis Marx & Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 9, 1941, Serial No. 422,191

6 Claims.

This invention relates to toys and more particularly to tops.

The primary object of my invention is to generally improve tops. A more particular object is to provide a gyroscope top having some of the characteristics of a so-called yo-yo top.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing general objects and other more specific objects which will hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the toy top elements and their relation one to the other as hereinafter described in the specification and sought to be defined in the claims. The specification is accompanied by drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the top with the string wound thereon;

Fig. 2 illustrates the beginning of the operation of the top;

Fig. 3 shows a position assumed by the top during the first part of its spin;

Fig. 4 illustrates movement of the top from horizontal toward vertical position;

Fig. 5 shows the top freed from the yoke and spinning in upright position like a peg top;

Fig. 6 shows the top in elevation with the string wound thereon;

Fig. 7 is a section through the top;

Fig. 8 is an elevation of a modified top embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 9 is a section taken approximately in the plane of the line 9-9 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 shows the top spinning in upside down position;

Fig. 11 illustrates a modification of the invention;

Fig. 12 is a section through the bearing portion and is taken approximately in the plane of the line I2-l2 of Fig.11;

Fig. 13 is a section similar to Fig. 12, but showing a modification;

Fig. 14 is an elevation of metal bearing;

Fig. 15 is a section taken approximately in the plane of the line l5l5 of Fig. 14;

Fig. 16 is an end view of the bearing and shows how the bearing is supported by the yoke when the top is in horizontal position;

Fig. 17 is a section similar to Fig. 15, but illustrates the escape of the bearing from the yoke;

Fig. 18 is a development of the bearing; and

a top having a sheet Figs. 19, 20 and 21 are explanatory of the operation of the toy.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to Figs. 1 through 5, the complete toy com prises a body l2 which is annularly cleft at I 4,

much as is done with a yo-yo top. One side of the .body I2 is provided with a peg l6 (Figs. 3-5), while the other side of the body is provided with anaxially projecting shank H. A bearing I8 is 1'reely rotatably carried at the end of shank IT. This bearing is slotted to receive a sheet metal member 20 which may for convenience be termed a yoke. A string 22 is connected at its lower end to the yoke 20. The upper end may be looped so that it can be anchored on a finger as is illustrated at 24, (Fig. l).

The yoke 20 is preliminarily hooked on bearing i8, and the string is then run to the cleft M, in which it is wound. The loop 24 is then placed on one finger, the top being held by the other fingers somewhat as is illustrated in Fig. 1. The top may then be either released or thrown downwardly, depending on the skill of the user. This imparts a spin to the top as is illustrated in Fig. 2. When the string has fully unwound the top is spinning rapidly, and will remain in a horizontal position because of its gyroscopic action. The yoke 20 supports the bearing l8 and the top in the manner shown clearly in Fig. 3, while the body l2 of the top spins rapidly relative to bearing 18. If the position of the top is changed from the horizontal position shown in Fig. 3, past the angular position shown in Fig. 4, to a nearly upright position, the yoke 20 readily escapes from the slotted bearing l8, and the spinning top falls to the floor and continues spinning on peg l5 see Fig. 5) like an ordinary peg top.

The detailed construction of the top is better shown in Figs. 6 and '7. Referring to Fig. 7 it will be seen that the upper and lower halves 25 and 26 of the top body l2 are preferably turned out of a single piece of wood. The annular cleft I4 is preferably made deep, or in other words, the diameter of the connecting portion 28 is made small, so that a greater amount and speed of rotation may be imparted to the top for a given length of string. For ordinary purposes the length of string is limited by the desire to com-- fortably hold the top off the floor when the string has been completely unwound, as shown in Fig. 3.

The bottom peg I6 is merely a round-headed, metal nail or stud which is driven axially into the top. An undersized hole is preferably preliminarily drilled in the wood body to receive and properly guide the peg it, but in such case the hole is kept small enough to receive the peg with a force fit. The bearing I8 is preferably formed of metal and may, for example, be die-cast. In the particular form here shown, the bearing free rotation of the bearing relative to the top. p

be understood that a guide hole may the shank ll of the top "f It will also be preliminarily drilled in before attempting to drive Referring to Figs. 8 and the pin.

ing the wood of the lower half down substantially to a point, as is illustrated at 42. .The smallest diameter of the wood is preferably made equal to the diameter of the head 44 of the metal peg. With this construction, the peg may be drivenall' the way into the. wood and the appearance of the top is substantially improved.

The bearingv 46 is also modified, and in the present case it bears on the upper pin 48 over .the entire axial length of the bearing. The enlargements 5.0 of bayonet slots 52 are preferably located ata point substantially midway between the ends of bearing 46, so that when the top is spinning in horizontal position the string and yoke support the bearing at its center. Because of the increased effective length of bearing 46 (compared to bearing IS in Fig. '7), and because of the. symmetrical suspension of the bearin (contrasted with hearing l8 in'which the point of suspension is beyond the. end of the effective bearing length), there is less possibility of the top assuming a position in which its axis issomewhat angularly related to. the axis of the bear--- ing, and in general a smoother and =more fric-' tionless bearing action is. obtained.

With the present construction, the sheet metal yoke 54 (Fig. 9) has inwardlyturned endsbfi which are spaced from one another to readily clear the center or hubportion 580i the hearing within the slots 52. This .centerportion 58 is preferably made larger in diameter than the head of pin 48. It will also be understood that when pin '48 is driveninto shank 60 ofthetop, some axial clearance is left toinsure free rotation of the bearing relative to the top.

An incidental advantage of the bearing con struction shown in Figs. 8and .9 is that the top may be spun upside down as shown in Fig- 10, the end of pi'n.48 then acting as a. peg on which the top rotates. By skillful handling, the top may be put into the inverted position shown in Fig. 10 while spinning. j

Basically, the present top is a yo-yo top provided with a peg on .one side and a slotted bearingv on the other. This is illustrated by theform of the invention shown in Fig. 11, in which an ordinary wood yo-yo body 62 has a metal pin 64 driventherethrough, one end 66 of the pin being rounded to act as .a peg for the top, while the other end of the pin is provided with a bearing 68.. This .bearing is provided with keyhole slots 10 to detachably receive a sheet metal yoke 12, like that shown in Fig. 9. A part of pin 64 inside bearing 58 is pinched, as shown at 14, to prevent inward movement of bearing 63, while the. end of pin 64 is provided with a head 16. In the present, case the bearing has been lengthened, but the head iii is recessed slightly.

This recessing of the head of. the bearing .pin

9, I there show atop, the body portion 40 of which is modified by turnmay be used with a top having a wooden shank, such as that illustrated in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. A construction of this kind is shown in Fig. 13. It has the advantage of protecting the head 18 of pin 80 against an accidental or unintended forceful blow, which might drive the pin somewhat further into the shank and thereby tighten the bearing 82 against the desired free rotation. On the otherhand, the recessed arrangement of Fig. 13 eliminates the possibility of spinning the top in the upside down position shown in Fig. 10.

If desired the bearing, instead of being molded out of solid material, may be bent up out of sheet .metal. Such an arrangement is shown in Figs.

lithrough 17 of the drawings, in which a single 'pieceof sheet-m'etal is appropriately shaped and bent to form a box-like structure which may be used as a bearing for the top. In the specific case illustrated, the piece of sheet metal is initially of the configuration shown in Fig. 18, this comprising a top wall 84, slotted side walls 86, a third side wall 88, and a perforated bottom wall 90. These parts are all bent to mutually perpendicular position on the dotted lines shown. This results in a generally cube shaped box open at one side. The bearing pin 92 passes through aligned perforations in the top and bottom walls 84 and 90. The sheet metal yoke 94 (Fig. 17) has inwardly directed ends 96, which are received in the keyhole shaped slots 98 in side walls 85. The spacing between the side arms ['00 (Fig. 16) of yoke 94 is preferably made only slightly greater than the spacing of the side walls 86 of the hearing, so that there is no possibility of sidewise movement of the yoke to the point where one of the inwardly directed ends 96 might escape from the yoke. However, when the top turns to vertical position, the bearing readily escapes from the yoke because the slots extend through the top wall 84 for a substantial distancef If desired, the tips of the inwardly directed ends 96 of the yoke may be sloped as shown in Fig. 1'7, thereby additionally insuring free escape of the yoke from the bearing, despite any sidewise movement of the yoke which may happen to take place as the top reaches vertical position.

Some of the theory underlying the'ope'ration of this top may be explained with reference to Figs. 19, 20 and 21. When the top is first spun, it is in horizontal position and remains in that position due to the gyroscopic action of the top. However, the downward attraction of gravity causes the top to process in a horizontal direction, thus leading the top to revolve about a vertical axis as illustrated in Fig, 19, while the top itself is spinning rapidly on 'a horizontal axis. If the upper end of the string is simply held in this position, the top will not turn down tovertical position until it has lost most of its spin. Consequently, there will be very little remaining time during which the top will spin on its peg in the position shown in Fig. 5. One of the tricks when playing with the'top, therefore, is to turnthe top to vertical position while it is still spinning at high speed. To cause the top to precess to vertical position, it must be subjected to a horizontal force. To do this the upper end of the string must be properly moved relative to the movement of the top. If the horizontal force is exerted in one direction, the top will tend to precess upwardly as shown in Fig. 21. If moved in the other direction, the top will tend to precessdownwardly asshown in Fig. 20. If the operator is successful in'doing this, while the top is still spin-..

ning at high speed, it will fall from the yoke and spin on the floor for a long time.

The top may be spun on a table instead of on the floor by raising the string high enough before moving the top to vertical position. One rather unspectacular way to cause the top to precess to vertical position is to restrain the conical movement of the string shown in Fig. 19 at a point somewhat near the top. This is a convenient way to accomplish the desired result when it is desired to spin the top on a table.

Various other stunts may be performed with this top by a skillful operator. The top may be swung around in various arcs and loops while it is still spinning in gyroscope fashion at the end of the string. A skillful operator may transfer the top while spinning at high speed, from the string held in one hand, to the palm of his other hand. As was previously mentioned, it is even possible to spin the top in inverted position. The top is interesting and versatile because all of the things which may be done with an ordinary peg top may be done with the present top, and in addition numerous stunts may be performed While the top is spinning gyroscoplcally at the end of the string.

It is believed that the construction and method of operation, as well as the advantages of my improved top, will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description thereof. It will also be apparent that while I have shown and described my invention in several preferred forms, many changes and modifications may be made in the structures disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as sought to be defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A top comprising a circular body, a peg on the axis of the body at one side, a shank on the axis of the body at the other side, a freely rotatable bearing at the end of the shank, a yoke, and a string tied to said yoke, said bearing being slotted to detachably receive the yoke in such a manner that the bearing and top will remain on the yoke while their axis is approximately horizontal, but the bearing and top will be freed to slide off the yoke when their axis is substantially vertical.

2. A top comprising a circular body annularly cleft like a yo-yo to receive a string, a peg on the axis of the top at one side of the body, a shank on the axis of the top at the other side of the body, a freely rotatable bearing at the end of the shank, a string, and means detachably connecting said string to said bearing in such a manner that they remain connected while the axis of the top is in one position, but are disconnected when the axis of the top is in a different position.

3. A top comprising a circular body annularly cleft like a yo-yo top to receive a string, a peg on the axis of the top at one side of the body, a shank on the axis of the top at the other side of the body, a freely rotatable bearing at the end of the shank, a yoke, and a string tied to said yoke, said bearing being slotted to detachably receive the yoke in such a manner that the bearing and top will remain on the yoke while their axis is approximately horizontal, but the bearing and top will be freed to slide off the yoke when their axis is substantially vertical.

4. A top comprising a circular body, a peg at one side of the body, a shank at the other side of the body, a bearing at the end of the shank, a bearing pin extending through said bearing into the shank, said bearing having key-hole shaped slots extending longitudinally of the bearing at opposite sides thereof, said bearing being freely rotatable on said bearing pin relative to the body of the top, a yoke having a top bar, side arms spaced far enough apart to straddle the bearing, and inwardly turned ends dimensioned to be received in the aforesaid slots, and a string connected to said yoke.

5. A top comprising a circular body, said body being annularly cleft by a thin, deep slot like a yo-yo top to receive a string, a peg at one side of the body, a shank at the other side of the body, a bearing at the end of the shank, a bearing pin extending through said bearing into the shank, said bearing having key-hole shaped slots extending longitudinally of the bearing at opposite sides thereof, said bearing being freely rotatable on said bearing pin relative to the body of the top, a yoke having a top bar, side arms spaced far enough apart to straddle the bearing, and inwardly turned ends dimensioned to be received in the aforesaid slots, and a string connected to said yoke, the arrangement being such that the bearing and top will remain on the yoke while their axis is approximately horizontal, but the bearing and top will be freed to slide off the yoke when their axis is substantially vertical.

6. A top comprising a body turned out of a single piece of wood, said body being annularly cleft by a deep, narrow slot like a yo-yo top to receive a string, the Wood body at one side of the cleft being tapered to a point and provided with a metallic tip or peg, the wood body on the other side of the cleft being turned down to a relatively long approximately cylindrical shank, a bearing at the end of the shank, a bearing pin extending through said bearing into the shank, said bearing having key-hole shaped slots extending longitudinally of the bearing at opposite sides thereof with the enlargements of the slots located approximately half-Way between the ends of the bearing, said bearing being freely rotatable on said bearing pin relative to the body of the top, a sheet metal yoke having a top bar, side arms spaced far enough apart to straddle the bearing. and inwardly turned ends dimensioned to be received in the aforesaid slots, and a strin connected to said yoke.

RAYMOND J. LOHR. 

